What is the Best VMDK Converter for VMware V2V migration?

Server virtualization technology has brought many benefits to companies and also motivate other companies to upgrade to virtual environment.

VMware vSphere is the most popular virtualization solution in the world. No matter you are a beginner who wants to manage virtual environment, or an expert who wants to find a more convenient VMware migration tool, the VMDK converters introduced in this post will be very helpful for you.

What is VMDK?

Hard disk is indispensable for physical machine with which you can store applications and files on computer. It is of the same importance as virtual hard disk in virtual machine. Physical hard disk is touchable hardware, while virtual hard disk is just a file in the folder of VM.

There are many kinds of server virtualization solutions in the world to let users build virtual environment and every platform will help create virtual machine with its own technology. Therefore, the formats of virtual disks are various, like VMDK, VHD, XVA, ect.

VMDK, short for Virtual Machine Disk, is the format of virtual hard disk in VMware vSphere and other VMware environments. It stores the applications and other data of virtual machines. You can copy VMDK to another datastore to store the crucial data or directly attach the virtual disk to another virtual machine later. With a virtual disk converter, you can even convert the VMDK file into another format to use on another virtualization platform.

Of course, the reversed process makes it possible to import VM from other virtualization platforms. For example, you can convert the virtual disk of XenServer VM (.xva format) into .vmdk format file to migrate from XenServer to VMware vSphere.

What does VMDK converter do?

VMDK converter makes you migrate VM from other platforms to VMware vSphere or from VMware vSphere to other platforms.

VMware vSphere is a very mature virtualization solution, which has prepared VMware migration tool for users. VMware vCenter Converter Standalone can help users perform V2V migration, which means moving virtual machines between ESXi hosts or ESXi and another platform.

Is there another converter helping perform cross-platform migration? You can freely move VM in multi-hypervisor environment with Vinchin Backup & Recovery.

How to migrate VM with VMware vCenter Converter Standalone?

It is suggested to uninstall the applications and devices of original virtualization platform, or there might be blue screen issue or other issues even after the VM is moved to VMware vSphere.

1. Install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone on the source VM, which can be a VMware VM or VM on another platform.

2. In VMware vCenter Converter Standalone, select Convert machine

3. Select source type: Power on and This local machine > click Next

4. Select destination type: VMware Infrastructure virtual machine > input the credential of the target server including IP address, User Name, and Password > click Next

5. Select the host for the VM > click Next

6. Select datastore for the VM > click Next

7. Edit the onfiguration of the VM > click Next

8. Review the Summary > click Finish

Now, you can check whether it appears in vSphere environment and whether it can be normally started.

Except for this, you can also use vSphere client to convert VMDK to OVF template or use OVF Tool to convert VMDK to OVA template.

Best VMDK Converter: Vinchin Backup & Recovery

Multi-hypervisor environment is becoming more and more popular. Different virtualization platforms, like VMware vSphere, XenServer, XCP-ng, etc., coexist in the same IT environment letting users utilize all their advantages. To help applications work in the most suitable environment and fully utilize the hardware resources, a powerful virtual disk converter is needed.

Vinchin Backup & Recovery helps you add all your virtualization platforms (up to 10 mainstream virtualization platforms supported) into the same backup server and make VM backup agentlessly. With the VM backup, you can freely restore the VM to another virtualization platform within simple steps.

Select the VM backup from Restore Point, select a host from IT environment as the destination, select the strategies (restore now or as scheduled, etc.), and then your VM can be easily moved to the destination host.

Vinchin Backup & Recovery also supports Instant Recovery. If certain VM failed, it can be magically recovered on the original or another host in 15 seconds, greatly shortening the downtime.

The good news is that this brilliant solution can be instantly deployed in your virtual environment with a 60-day full-featured free trial. Just download it right now.

Conclusion

VMDK converter can help you migrate VM from VMware vSphere to other virtualization platforms or from other virtualization platforms to VMware vSphere.

You can use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone and Vinchin Backup & Recovery to easily perform VMware V2V migration. Don’t miss the free trial.